Sourcing Praveen Swami’s Story

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I apologise for the unusual format of this post – rather than make [x/n] chirps on twitter, I thought it best to put my thoughts in a short post. These thoughts, for whatever they are worth, are as yet incomplete and may remain so until someone has more data. Nonetheless, I insist on working from data as much as possible and not on speculation.

Many readers will be aware of the twochirps I made yesterday about my emails to UNMOGIP. Basically, upon reading Praveen Swami’s article in The Hindu, I was curious about the documents he mentioned. My curiosity was more motivated by my research habits of verifying sources than any disagreement I had with Swami’s article. To be clear, let me state again that I accept what Swami wrote to be close to the truth. Unlike those offended by the article, I do not think that the events show the Indian Army in a bad light. Having studied conflicts over centuries, one accepts that tragedies occur when people with weapons under a lot of stress are put in extreme environments.

This is not to impose an equality between India and Pakistan – the latter has acquired an international reputation for aiding and abetting terrorists while the former, us guys, may have problems but do not indulge in such activities. It is also incredibly obtuse to think that one side would not give as good as it gets, no matter what the orders are from HQ – unit cohesion would not last the week otherwise.

First e-mail I received from UNMOGIP

Second e-mail I received from UNMOGIP

Anyway, to return to my investigation about Swami’s sources, the response from UNMOGIP-Delhi made me suspicious about the existence in the public domain of these “classified” documents. If they were classified, how had Swami obtained access to them? So as advised by Delhi, I emailed the UN Headquarters in New York. I was informed that any declassified documents they held would be available in their online database, and it seems to be true, given that the latest document listed there is from January 18, 2013.

By the way, the UN seems to follow a 20-year rule on declassification…just in case you missed my old article. In any case, I received a helpful email explaining how to use the database and narrow my search from an initial 3,980 documents to 560 at the last pass. Here are my findings so far:

Swami is indeed right that the Pakistanis complained to UNMOGIP about the massacre of 22 civilians at Seri, Bandala, on April 26-27, 1998. However, though the report mentions mutilation of bodies by daggers and the presence of notes (as well as Indian ammunition casings and an Indian-made watch), it does not carry gory details Swami mentions such as decapitation or the gouging out of eyes. Neither is there any mention of a note asking, “How does your own blood feel?”

In the Nadala enclave incident, the Pakistani complaint to UNMOGIP of January 24, 2000, was quite sparse. There is no evidence presented, and the only mention is of two dead and five missing Pakistani soldiers from the alleged company-sized attack with mortars and “recoilless rifle bunker-busting fire.” There is no mention of Pakistani soldiers being tied up and dragged across a ravine. In fact, the report looks like a regular instance of cross-border firing and little else.

Nothing was found on the other events mentioned – Bhimber Gali on September 18, 2003, Bhattal on June 19, 2008, or Sharda on August 30, 2011.

Is it possible that I missed some documents? Absolutely. However, given how broad my search terms were – “UNMOGIP,” “Kashmir,” “Pakistan AND India” – that seems unlikely. Furthermore, I searched not only for reports from the Pakistani delegation to the UN but also an entity called the Jammu & Kashmir Council for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and others. This means that at least part of Swami’s story comes from sources other than UN documents or that he had access to documents that have not yet been declassified. Even on the 1998 Bandala incident where his story lines up most, the UNMOGIP report has been embellished with external material.

By the way, complaints are, by definition, one-sided. Even if Swami produces all the documentation he has cited, it does not prove the Indian Army’s guilt but merely merits an investigation from the Indian side. It is not the media’s job to adjudicate on guilt, something they seem to forget quite often.

I fully understand that newspaper articles are not peer-reviewed academic pieces and have different evidentiary standards, but it should not be this difficult to track down the sources of a story if one is so inclined. Journalists frequently make use of their privileged access to people in power, but that is a double-edged sword – you may as easily be a propaganda mouthpiece as the journaliste du jour. It is also, in my opinion, good research ethics to explain the nature of one’s sources.

I am told that Swami has blocked people on twitter for asking him about his sources (RTing to him my two chirps) and I understand not wanting to be inundated with requests for information, especially when the matter puts one in an awkward light. However, given the sensitivity of the piece and the reaction it has provoked, the responsible thing to do would have been for The Hindu, Swami’s employer and the tabloid that carried the story, to put up links to these alleged documents – documents are not people and need not be protected in the same way journalists protect their human sources. Swami could also have been clearer about the sources of the extraneous details he added.

If these documents are indeed classified and we have to accept the author at his word – which is fine – this whole fancy article based on “classified documents” can also be rewritten as “Sources say…” The latter seems, to me, a little more honest in that it does not even hold the slightest hope that the information can be verified, whereas “classified documents” implies that they might be available somewhere and have just been or are about to be declassified.

As was pointed out to me yesterday on twitter, “classified documents” can also mean a leak. This raises questions about how selectively documents were leaked, who these leaks were, and what their motivations for such a revelation were, that too when Indians were just beginning to forget the LoC decapitation of two Indian soldiers.

In conclusion, I can only say that, at present, the documentation on the Swami story is at best a mixed bag. I’d appreciate any assistance in deciphering this mess – from The Hindu, Swami himself, UNMOGIP, or especially a more persevering researcher. By the way, I have a classified document that appoints me as the head of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission…will the office send a car to pick me up?

The argument is that of intent. If the UNMOGIP documents revealed only that much where did the author get other gory details..these sources and the involvement of Pak journalists points towards a larger game in which we reckon the author has got trapped, maybe unwittingly at the behest of ISI. Such a deluge of anti military stories by an author who we presume understands LoC is difficult to explain as it directly puts the commanders on the spot to be tempering their military judgement with a media hostility to contend with. This is neither good for their morale nor their efficiency.

Maybe the mixed bag would open someday in another book or a revelation like the Kargil story is unfolding now.

Agree. What I mean when I say I agree with PS is that I do not doubt that Indian soldiers have retaliated when their own were killed – and why should we be apologetic for that? I do question the attack on civilians, the inconsistencies in the reports, and of course, as you point out, the motives. While I accept the actuality of the events, history tells us it is never the what but the why – I would not at all be surprised if your assessment that this is an elaborate ISI plot turns out to be spot on.

Girish

Compliments! Way to go!

Lalit Ambardar

Self acclaimed mainstream journalism thrives on ‘classified’ human sources, now ‘classified’ documents.Recall Indian Journalist (guess?) who returned from Afghanistan when ruled by Taliban gave secular certificate to Taliban-reported Hindus & Sikhs not diktated to wear safron identity tags,later retarcted & lost then job too.

Yes, I read it and chirped it too. A very balanced and thoughtful piece, putting PS’ story in context of the politics; some good questions you ask, and a great ending line 🙂 Let us hope these journos respond!

krishna

S Varadarajan, even more than N Ram, is so viciously anti-Hindu (and so anti-India ) that he will not flinch from defaming Indian Army Praveen Swamy has proved himself a willing accomplice In due course Bhadra Kumar too would find an appropriate role The only real way these Pakistani agents can be silenced is by boycotting their vehicle of expression and propaganda, The Hindu, Just don’t bother to read that Pak propaganda sheet

http://twitter.com/Blstrngbrnacles Enthusiast

In context of this brilliant article, Jaideep, I refer you to @sorbonne75 exchage with sid varadarjan and Barkha dutt’s interjection of she not being the journalist involved in sharing of the documents. Although, I’ve seen a small twitter conversation which spoke of a game changer between Barkha dutt and a Pakistani journalist coming up in the Hindu aka Praveen Swami’s article.

Thanks, will poke around. I don’t follow any of these three, so I was totally unaware.

chandra

why isn’t IA not dragging ‘The Hindu’ to courts for defamation? Also, can Swamy not tried in a military court for treason?

http://twitter.com/reachketan Ketan Kulkarni

Has Praveen Swamy seen and/or commented on this article?

http://twitter.com/ganpat73 munusamy ganapathy

The ignorance of people who want to beleive what they want is starling. the availability of cell phones and easy transfer is breaking a lot of myths and the anger based on the beleif and conviction of an impossible chance of attack on civilians of an enemy nation is amusing.Dont be surprised if you land up with photos of mutilated bodies and torture due to forces from places across the country

Our own northeast has a lot of local news papers and even a casual glance of those will reveal photographs of tortured bodies of Indian citizens with marks around the genitalia,presence of electric burns,cutting of body parts.The documents in national human rights commission on atrocities and torture against local population by the forces will run to several thousand pages and we want to charge a press reporter for treason because he reports something against our beleif.soldiering is a sport and if sledging is the norm it will be part of all teams
One should use this opportunity to sensitize forces across the world on handling of prisoners,suspects,POW and not close our eyes

In the North East? By whom? ULFA and types or Bangladeshi troops? Or “immigrants?”

http://twitter.com/ganpat73 munusamy ganapathy

Our own security forces from regular units,assam rifles,para military forces,state police and the protests by naked women in manipur greatly reduced the frequencies of incidences of atrocities. I know incidences of district collector being thrashed along with his driver who was travelling when the troops of an unit went on a rampage after losing their offficer and killed several old men who couldnt run and escape in 2000.the newspapers of manipur,nagaland are yet to be available online but copies will be available in the libraries and lead to visits from the members of national human rights commission and some token action on the concerned

http://www.facebook.com/aravindan.neelakandan Aravindan Neelakandan

Another wonderful expose… will these guys ever stop?

Girish

Absolutely! BTW was a theme in Tamil movies too! from Nee Enbathu Enna in Vennira Aadai! Praveen Swami should certainly, must have considered all these while making that comment! 🙂

Muthuraman N

Wow.. A brilliant and quite a balanced piece! I like the depth of research that this post carries.. Contrast this with shallow columns in MSM based on hearsay! Kudos to the author and CRI!

Param

Totally agree on intend of the Hindu’s editorial policy. But their guest artciles are still one of the best if you can see through and skip the propaganda peices and plants. What is the alternative apart from going through several blogs 🙂 ? I hope CRI would get there soon.
Also , i acknowledge the experience of people like Mr Swami and Bhadrakumar etc – but as the author correctly pointed out above , he has been caught on a slippery slope on this one and would be beneficial for everyone if he comes out clean.
But again , we all know what Hindu’s editorial policy is when faced with criticism , right ? “Dont waste your time and mine” 🙂 🙂 🙂

Param

OMG! some hints please?

Param

Dude , dont go overboard. They made a slip and could be un-intentional , even if the editorial policy has a marxist bias. Is still way short of a Tehelka or Kafila or even an outlook.

kalimirch

How do you verify and ascertain that this is not propaganda? What credible sources do you have that prove a newspaper report? Given that there are many rouges in the media working for anti-national cause, on what basis do you decide to trust a media report?

http://twitter.com/ganpat73 munusamy ganapathy

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-14/india/29656095_1_murder-case-life-imprisonment-cbi-court Naxalite activist Varghese was gunned downed by police in cold blood in
the Tirunelli forests in Wayanad on February 18, 1970 and it was then
described as “encounter death”. But the case took a new turn with the
confession by the former constable late P Ramachandran Nair in 1998 that
he had shot Varghese dead as per the orders of Vijayan and Lakshmana,
who were then his superior officers. There are quiet a bit of people torn between truth and loyalty and the day they start breaking their silences a lot of myths of we being good copybook international convention following forces like the one commanded by amitabh in border movie will explode on the face Its not just gouging the eyes which amounts to cruelty but giving electric shocks to the male genitalia. every alternate male in nagaland,manipur and other areas where terrorists groups are in plenty would have been subjected to it by the forces to get details.Encounter deaths after torture was a daily affair without any notice from the mainland for decades till the people started raising their voices and getting organised

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